Art from Around the World

A child looks at a colorful Kente cloth from Ghana, West Africa. What makes it special?

→ Kente cloth is woven by hand using bright strips of yellow, green, red, and gold fabric sewn together. Each color and pattern has a meaning, like gold means wealth and green means growing things. · Weaving cloth is a tradition in Ghana that has been passed down for hundreds of years.

You see a round blue and white plate painted in the Netherlands called Delftware. What kind of art is this?

→ Delftware is a craft where artists paint blue pictures of windmills, flowers, and people onto white clay pottery and then fire it in a very hot oven so the colors stay forever. · The color blue is special because it used to be very expensive to make, so it showed the pottery was valuable.

A student sees a Japanese painting with a tall mountain, waves, and no words. How does the artist tell a story without words?

→ The artist uses symbols and nature scenes. The big mountain shows strength, and the crashing waves show power. Colors and shapes do the talking instead of words. · Many Japanese artists paint nature because they believe nature is beautiful and worth studying carefully.

You are looking at an Aboriginal dot painting from Australia. Why are there so many tiny dots?

→ Aboriginal artists from Australia use dots to make pictures of animals, land, and Dreamtime stories. The dots fill in shapes and create patterns that show maps of the land or stories passed down from their ancestors. · Dot painting is a tradition that started with marks made in sand and on rocks long ago.

A class looks at an Alebrije from Mexico. It is a bright, painted wooden animal that looks like a dragon with wings. Is this real or imaginary?

→ Alebrijes are imaginary! Artists in Mexico carve wood or use paper and paste to build fantasy creatures, then paint them with wild, colorful patterns. They come from an artist's dream and are not real animals. · Alebrijes were first made by an artist named Pedro Linares who dreamed of strange creatures when he was sick.

You see a tall totem pole carved from wood in the Pacific Northwest of North America. What is it for?

→ Totem poles are carved by Indigenous artists and each figure on the pole, like a bear, eagle, or whale, represents a family, a story, or an important event in a community's history. · Reading a totem pole is like reading a book of pictures that tells a family's whole story.